People love music, most people love parties and some people love karaoke. Can music events engage and inspire the next generation of 18-40 fundraisers?

We asked what events motivated people. More here. And we tested whether you could create an online music festival with Google Hangout. More here.

And we created a little pilot music festival of our own to explore music event fundraising models.

Here’s how we created Cowfest:

We ran ads on facebook asking for people who were interested in music to sign up for more information. £50 worth of advertising recruited 70 names – 70% of people interested were under 40.

The majority wanted to use bigger venues outside their houses (see our findings about what music events most motivate people here).

We surveyed them asking them what help they wanted and 4 things stood out: help with kit hire, a ticket system which their friends could use and got the money to charities, a list of things to do (licences etc) and to be part of a national event.

The majority of organisers wanted to chose the charity (although some wanted the audience to decide). Most organisers favoured local charities they had a strong connection to, so we created a simple online ticket system to make that possible.

[We believe there is a huge opportunity for a big national music event that works across the sector, to support a wide variety of charities].

We asked 5 brave and generous people to run pilot events in March (on a day which turned out to be the coldest and snowiest of the year).

KEY FINDINGS

Music events engaged a high percentage of first time fundraisers. Yay.

Average donation at pilot events was higher than expected – at £10-15 rather than £5-10 expected.

People want to be part of something bigger – They liked the idea a famous band could turn up, that lots of events were happening at the same time and they could be connected together online.

Organising a music festival is a higher barrier to entry than a house party; micro music festivals appear to organisers to be much harder work, follow up survey work showed people 3 times more likely to run their own ‘house party’ than a micro music festival. See the full results here.

Organisers were happy to pay a registration fee for core support if it was clear what it was for and how it would be useful.

If this has inspired you to start a music festival that plays great music and makes a difference check out the awesome leefest.org.uk. We’re big fans.

If you’d like help to create a brand new music fundraising event, or want help with digital strategy email us:change@thegivinglab.org

Over 400 young people runaway or vanish in Newcastle each year, that’s why The Children’s Society run a brilliant local project called SCARPA to support them. To provide a listening ear, provide a safe place and support young people to consider risk and family support to help change things at home.

Geordie magic tests transparency, showcasing local spending, the difference made locally and a locally themed campaign. We want to make thing vanish and bring a bit of Geordie Magic to the streets, to workplaces, to social media and in direct mail to delight and engage people and encourage them to support SCARPA and The Children’s Society.

And find out later this autumn who won – magicians or chuggers.

*Chuggers is the (often derogatory) term for street fundraisers.

If your charity wants to understand givers better or a weave a little innovation magic over your next integrated marketing campaign give us a call on 0844 324 6010. Or email change@thegivinglab.org